FOR NAVY AVIATION FAMILIES
Their Service Shapes a Family.
Your Gift Shapes What Comes Next.
Behind every scholarship is a Navy Aviation family that has served, sacrificed, moved, adapted, and supported a mission larger than themselves.
Your gift helps children, grandchildren, and military spouses of Navy Aviation
service members pursue their education with greater opportunity and less financial burden.
Thank You For Making This Possible
You are about to make a meaningful difference in the life of a Navy aviation family. This is more than a donation. It is an investment in resilience, opportunity, and the future of those who serve.
Your tax-deductible gift opens a door, creates opportunity, and strengthens the future of a student with extraordinary potential.
Your Gift Makes This Possible:
→ $100 supports mandatory technology and library fees
→ $500 helps cover mandatory university fees
→ $1,000 funds a partial scholarship
→ $2,500 supports half a scholarship
→ $5,000 funds a full scholarship
→ $20,000 funds a four-year renewable scholarship
Why Give
Navy Aviation Takes Care of Its Own.
Behind every Navy Aviation service member is a family that serves alongside them—through deployments, moves, separations, and the demands of military life.
For nearly four decades, Wings Over America Scholarship Foundation has helped that community invest in what comes next: education for the children, grandchildren, and spouses of Navy Aviation families.
Your gift helps turn their years of service and sacrifice into opportunity—helping students pursue college, technical education, and the future they are working toward.
What began in 1987 as a grassroots effort within the Navy Aviation community has grown into a scholarship foundation powered by people who believe that taking care of our own includes investing in the next generation.
Your generosity makes that possible.
Your Impact
You’re Making This Possible
You are about to make a meaningful difference in the life of a Navy aviation family. This is more than a donation. It is an investment in resilience, opportunity, and the future of those who serve.
Every gift opens a door, creates opportunity, and strengthens the future of a student with extraordinary potential.
We are deeply grateful for your commitment to those who serve.
Ways to Give
There Is More Than One Way to Make a Difference
Every gift helps WOASF provide educational scholarships to Navy Aviation families.
Give Monthly
Make Your Support Last All Year
A monthly gift gives WOASF dependable support throughout the year and helps us plan ahead for the next generation of Navy Aviation scholars.
Whether it is $25, $50, $100, or another amount, recurring gifts add up to meaningful scholarship support while making giving easier to sustain.
Why give monthly?
Matching Gifts
Your $100 Gift Could Become $200. Or More.
Many employers match charitable donations made by employees, and some programs also extend to spouses or retirees. Search your employer to see whether a matching gift program is available.
Before you give, or after making your gift, check whether your employer has a matching-gift program.
Three simple steps:
- Make your gift to WOASF
- Search your employer's matching-gift program
- Submit the required match request
Some employers may double or triple an employee's donation.
Don’t see your company? Check with your Human Resources or workplace giving team. Your employer may still offer a matching gift program.
Donor-Advised Funds
Put Your Donor-Advised Fund to Work for Navy Aviation Families
If you have a donor-advised fund, you can recommend a grant to Wings Over America Scholarship Foundation (WOASF) to support educational opportunities for Navy Aviation families.
A donor-advised fund, or DAF, allows donors to recommend grants from a charitable account maintained by a sponsoring organization.
- Log in to your donor-advised fund account
This may be through Fidelity Charitable, Schwab Charitable, Vanguard Charitable, a community foundation, or another sponsoring organization. - Search for Wings Over America Scholarship Foundation
- Recommend the amount of your grant
- Choose where you would like your gift directed
Your grant may support:
- Scholarships where they are needed most
- Named or memorial scholarships
- Endowed scholarship funds
- Another approved WOASF purpose
Give From Your IRA
Age 70½ or Older? Your IRA Can Support a Scholar
If you are age 70½ or older, you may be able to make a Qualified Charitable Distribution (QCD) directly from an eligible IRA to Wings Over America Scholarship Foundation.
A QCD can allow eligible donors to support WOASF directly from their IRA, and it can count toward a required minimum distribution when applicable. The transfer must generally go directly from the IRA trustee or custodian to the qualified charity.
For 2026
Eligible individuals may make QCDs of up to $111,000 per person for the year.
How It Works
1. Contact your IRA custodian or financial adviser
2. Request a Qualified Charitable Distribution to:
Wings Over America Scholarship Foundation
3. Ask that the distribution be sent directly from the IRA to WOASF
4. Let WOASF know your gift is coming
This helps us identify and acknowledge your gift appropriately.
Please consult your tax or financial adviser to determine whether a Qualified Charitable Distribution is appropriate for your circumstances.
Memorial & Tribute Giving
Give in Honor or Memory
Celebrate a birthday, anniversary, retirement, change of command, milestone, or someone whose life and service deserve to be remembered.
A memorial or tribute gift turns recognition into opportunity for a future scholar. WOASF has historically invited donors to honor milestones and loved ones through scholarship giving.
A memorial or honorary scholarship can celebrate:
- A loved one
- A Navy Aviation leader
- A fallen aviator or aircrew member
- A retirement or change of command
- A milestone anniversary or birthday
- A family, squadron, ship, or community legacy
“Being able to be a part of this legacy and represent him through this scholarship... means the world to me.”
— Zachary Reinert
LCDR Landon Jones Memorial Scholar
WOASF’s history includes memorial scholarships honoring fallen members of the Navy Aviation community, including partnerships that created scholarships specifically so their service and sacrifice would continue to be remembered.
Named Scholarships
Put a Name to the Opportunity
A scholarship can carry more than financial support. It can carry a legacy.
A family name.
A squadron.
A ship.
A mentor.
A loved one.
A life of service.
WOASF offers several ways to connect a donor’s legacy directly with a scholarship.
A $5,000 gift may be recognized as a one-year Honorary or Memorial Scholarship, named as the donor chooses.
A $20,000 gift funds a four-year renewable scholarship that may carry the name chosen by the donor.
A fully funded Endowed Renewable Scholarship is structure to provide a named $5,000 scholarship annually for an anticipated minimum of 30 years.
And it does not have to happen all at once.
A donor may build the fund over up to five years, and contributions to the designated endowed scholarship fund may be made in any amount until the account reaches $125,000.
Not sure which scholarship option is right for you?
Our team can help you explore the best way to create a scholarship that reflects the legacy you want to carry forward.
Stocks & Securities
Give Stocks or Securities
A gift of appreciated securities or other assets can support scholarships while potentially providing tax advantages to the donor.
WOASF currently accepts inquiries about gifts of securities through its office.
Planned & Legacy Giving
Your Commitment Can Last Far Beyond Today
For many members of the Navy Aviation community, service becomes part of a lifelong identity.
A planned gift allows that connection to continue by supporting future scholars for years to come.
Include Wings Over America Scholarship Foundation in your estate plans and help future Navy Aviation scholars for generations to come.
Donors may wish to discuss options with their financial or estate advisers, including naming WOASF as a beneficiary through an estate plan.
WOASF does not provide legal, tax, or financial advice. Please consult your professional adviser regarding your individual circumstances.
SCHOLAR IMPACT
Because of You, There Is One Less Thing to Worry About.
Nereida Espinoza was a first-generation college student balancing full-time school and work, parenting a child, and navigating her husband's deployment.
“The relief of having one less thing on my plate will allow me to focus on the goals I have set forth for myself and my family.”
— Nereida Espinoza, 2023 WOASF Scholar
Give with Confidence
Stewardship Matters.
Wings Over America Scholarship Foundation is organized as a nonprofit corporation and is recognized as tax-exempt under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code.
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THEIR FUTURE IS STILL BEING WRITTEN
For nearly four decades, people who believe in Navy Aviation families have helped students take the next step.
The next scholarship begins with someone choosing to give.